Chapter Eighteen
Sara rested her
quivering chin on Chocolat’s strong shoulder as he
rushed everyone downstairs. “Did you
turn off the lights upstairs?” he asked out of breath.
Satie nodded and closed the door of
the basement before hurrying down the stairs to meet them. Chocolat handed Sara to him while he went in
search of a candle. Soon he felt the
shape of a candle beneath his searching palm and lit the wick with the matches
he kept in his pocket. His face glowed
from the flickering light and he slowly walked over to Satie and the frightened
child in his arms.
Chocolat searched frantically around
the room for something that would distract Sara. All of her toys were in her room and the
books lining the shelves down here were Christian’s dusty volumes that he had
collected over the years and were much too advanced for a child.
Feeling overwhelmed by the whole
situation, Chocolat let out a sigh and looked up and something caught his
eye. A picture of Satine and Christian
on their wedding day hung proudly on the wall by a bottle of sparkling
champagne. Chocolat carefully picked up
the picture and motioned for Satie to put Sara in his lap.
“Oh sugar, it’s all right.” He cradled her soft head of curls against his
chest and let the young girl cry. “Can I
show you something?” he asked.
Sara lifted her head and Satie reached
over and wiped away her tears. Chocolat
smiled and held the picture for Sara to see.
Her face immediately lit up at the sight of her mother and she excitedly
pointed to her image.
“That’s your mama,” Chocolat said
proudly. “Can you say that? Mama?”
Sara stared at him, slightly
confused. “Mmm…mmm…” she tried to form with her tiny lips.
Satie and Chocolat shot each other a
surprised look. Chocolat held her close
and said. “That’s my girl. Ma…ma. Can you say that sugar?”
“Mmmmaaaaa…mmm…” Sara pouted in frustration but she was stubborn like
her mother and attempted again. “Mmm…ma. Ma…maaaaa.”
Satie took in a short gasp.
“Mmm…Mama!”
Sara cried.
Chocolat hugged her close and kissed
her soft cheek. “Would you look at my
big grown up girl! She said mama!”
And as Satie and Chocolat clucked
along like two doting mother hens, they kept Sara close in their own little
corner of the world as the war took its wrath out on the rest of it.
Satine jumped as she heard the doors of the infirmary swing open to
reveal a dirt covered soldier on a stretcher whose body was contorting in
pain. She didn’t have to get a good look
before running over to her enormous stack of files.
“We have a critically
injured one here, Satine,” one nurse cried.
“Yes, yes I know!”
Satine replied, muffled, a pencil stuck between her teeth. She removed the pencil a moment. “Last name?”
“James!” a young girl
that Satine didn’t know, yelled.
Without thinking, Satine
started flipping through the names to the “J” section until what she said
registered. She strained her eyes and
when she saw Christian being examined by half a dozen nurses, she nearly sent
the pile of files flying to the floor.
She threw them onto a nearby table and ran to Christian’s side. “Oh my GOD!” Satine
screamed.
Her stomach lurched when
she saw Christian. His face was screwed
up into such pain that even she could barely stand to look at him. His right leg was twisted at the knee and it
was bent in a horribly grotesque, unnatural way.
The whole time, an older
nurse had been inspecting the bone and cried, “He’s dislocated his knee
cap. We’re going to have to snap it back
into place.”
“What?” Satine said, but
it came out as more of a choked gasp.
This woman was making her husband’s leg sound like some kind of twig.
“If we don’t get it
back, it could stay like this,” the woman brushed off the comment. “We don’t have time for this, you all get
into position! Satine, find a way to
make sure he won’t move.”
Satine nodded and bit her trembling lip. Her frustration at him from before melted
away as she got up and straddled Christian at a little above his hips. She smoothed his hair back and cleaned off
the dirt and tears caked onto his face.
“I love you, Christian.”
He was writhing in pain,
his face pale and his eyes bloodshot. He
couldn’t fully comprehend what was happening, he could only sense the searing
pain in his leg and the way Satine was trembling above him.
Three nurses were
positioned around his leg; one grasping his thigh, another at his calf and
another with her hands around Christian’s knee, ready to make the
procedure. “We’re going to have to make
it quick and clean,” the oldest one cried out over the commotion.
Satine nodded and took
both of Christian’s hands in hers. “I’m
sorry, darling,” she sobbed, leaning against his heaving chest.
“On three,” she vaguely
heard. She lifted her head and watched
Christian’s face and wanted nothing more at that moment than for them to be at
home.
“One…” the knot in her
stomach wound up even tighter.
“Two…” she would give
anything to take his pain for him.
“Three…” she saw the beginning
of a piercing cry forming on his lips and on impulse; she pressed her own to
his. She swallowed his scream as it was
released against her mouth and a sharp crack could be heard.
The nurses dropped his
leg and it landed roughly onto the mattress. They quickly dispersed to go treat an influx
of other new patients. “You take it from
there, Satine!” a nurse yelled. “Get him
some morphine to numb the pain!”
Satine nodded and wiped
her eyes. She looked at Christian and
her heart broke when she saw his quivering lips and how desperately hard he was
trying not to start sobbing from the excruciating pain. Satine un-straddled him and went to inspect
his knee. It was no longer twisted, but
it had swollen up to twice the size of his other one.
With shaky hands, Satine
went over to a nearby cabinet and pulled out a large bottle of morphine. She removed the lid and measured the correct
amount into a cup. She filled another
cup with cold water and brought the two back over to Christian.
“Darling,” she said in
her most soothing voice. He looked at
her and took in a ragged breath. Satine
helped him sit up and cradled him against her.
“Take this, it will help the pain,” she said.
Christian slowly opened
his mouth and Satine brought the cup of morphine to his lips and he
swallowed. His face scrunched up in
distaste and within seconds, Satine had the cup of water for him to drink and let
it cool his throat and rid him of the bitter taste.
Satine once again
noticed the dirt caked all over him and knew that he would be able to rest much
better if he had a bath. She pulled the
curtain around the small bed and began to peel off his filthy clothes.
As she continued to do
so, Christian felt his eyes begin to go out of focus and the feeling of intense
pain gradually beginning to fade. He
managed to look beside him and saw Satine helping him undress. He found the strength to place his hand on
top of hers as she was reaching for the button of his pants and whispered, “Love
you,” so quietly that he wondered if it had even come out at all.
Christian was put at
ease when he saw Satine smile and felt her soft lips brush his ear as she
breathed, “I love you too, Christian.”
Both were silent for a
moment and before she could speak the word in her heart that she knew was the
only way to save them, Christian read her thoughts.
“Home,” he whispered,
only audible to Satine.
Satine was beaming with pride and happiness
as she watched Sara walk across the bedroom to her soft bed and determinedly
attempt to climb into it. After placing
her bear on a pillow, she slung one of her short legs onto the mattress but
lost her footing and feel to the floor with a soft *bump*.
Satine
gasped and almost went running to Sara, but she soon saw that her daughter was
a very tough little girl. “Do you want
help?” Satine asked.
“I
do this,” Sara replied, standing up once again.
Her bright blue eyes narrowed at the task at hand as she took a short
leap and landed on her knees, sending a few pillows and animals flying to the
floor.
“I
did it!” Sara said with such joy that Satine couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes
you did, darling! Mama is so proud of
you!” She said, coming to sit beside Sara on the bed. Satine tucked the warm cotton sheets around
her and hummed lightly as her baby angel’s eyes began to grow droopy.
“Story,
Mama,” Sara said with a drowsy yawn.
Satine
searched the back of her mind for a bedtime story, and within moments, the
perfect one came to her.
Into us our
dreams were weaving…Once, all dreams were worth keeping, I was with you…